Tavel Notes and Comments

I took and passed the Covid-19 test yesterday afternoon at a CVS pharmacy here in Alexandria. Self-administered and got the results in less than 20 minutes.

My Icelandic Airlines flight departed from Dulles at 8:30 p.m. and I barely made it.

I had to submit a form to the UK government and it kept getting rejected. Until it was accepted, I couldn’t get on the plane. A young man working for the airline finally figured it out: the Brit’s computer was looking at my zero and was seeing the letter “O”.

The last time I flew out of Dulles, the taxi I took to the airport had stickers on the side windows in the back seat. They read: 

Please do not talk with the driver.

After a few minutes, and after a brief exchange over which terminal and when my flight left, he seemed pleasant, if not exactly friendly. I took a chance and asked about the stickers.

He studied me in his mirror for a few seconds, then said, “Because they ask me where I’m from and I tell them I came here from Iran and some people don’t like that and give me small tip.”

Some people are such jerks!

So I’m here in London, catching up on my sleep, and tonight I take the Caledonian Sleeper to Fort William in Scotland.

There’s more to come.